Walk on fire, fix a lamp: your Watford weekend

Issue 9 - 2026-11-12

November 12, 2026

Hi. Welcome back to The Watford Brew. Issue 9, and it's a quiet weekend for the Hornets but not for the rest of us.

It's the international break, so there's no Watford game until Sat 21 Nov. Instead: people walking on hot coals at Peace Hospice tonight, a Friday of ELO hits at the Colosseum, free repairs and tea and cake on Saturday morning, Hogwarts in the Snow opening at Leavesden, and Watford FC Women at home on Sunday. Plus the date the Christmas lights go on.

Everything below was checked with the organisers' own pages on Wednesday morning. Plans can change, so give the link a quick look before you head out.

TONIGHT

Rennie Grove Peace Firewalk, Peace Hospice
Thu 12 Nov · registration from 6.15pm · training 7pm · walk from 7.45pm · Peace Drive, WD17 3PH

Barefoot, over red-hot embers, for local hospice care. Walkers need to be 12 or over, and it's £25 for adults and £20 for 12 to 17s. Online tickets have closed, but the hospice says you can still turn up and buy a ticket on the night. Everyone's asked to aim for £228 in sponsorship, which could help fund 6 hours of specialist nursing care. Not walking? Friends and family are welcome to come and cheer, with stilt walkers and fire breathers from 6.15pm to 7.30pm and a refreshments van. There's no parking on site: The Avenue and Gade car parks are the closest.

Also tonight: Prof. Alice Roberts: From Cell to Civilisation at Watford Colosseum · Thu 12 Nov · doors 6.30pm. Four billion years of evolution in one evening, from the first spark of life to the earliest civilisations.

Or keep it local and low key: Pump House Jazz Club · Thu 12 Nov · 8pm · £13 · Colne River Room. Tonight's band is Enrico Tomasso Rico's Hot Rhythm, and there's no booking: just turn up.

FRIDAY

ELO Again, Watford Colosseum
Fri 13 Nov · doors 6.30pm · tickets via the Colosseum

The tribute to Jeff Lynne and the Electric Light Orchestra, with the strings, the light show and the hits: Mr Blue Sky, Livin' Thing, Telephone Line, Don't Bring Me Down and plenty more.

Got a ticket already? It Walks Around The House At Night, ThickSkin's ghost story, is at Watford Palace Theatre · Fri 13 Nov · 7.30pm · 1 hour 30 minutes, no interval · ages 14+. Every ticket band shows as sold out, so this one's for ticket holders.

SATURDAY

Watford Repair Café, St Mary's Church Annex
Sat 14 Nov · 10am to 1pm · Church Street, WD18 0EG · free, donations welcome

A wobbly chair, a bike that clicks, a lamp that's given up? Bring it along. Volunteers help with electrical items, furniture, toys, bikes, clothing and textiles, glasses frames and jewellery, plastic and resin repairs, and they'll sharpen tools and scissors too. No appointment: just turn up, register your item at the desk, and have a tea and a slice of cake while you wait. You stay with your item and watch or help. It's on the second Saturday of every month.

Hogwarts in the Snow, Warner Bros. Studio Tour London
From Sat 14 Nov to Sun 17 Jan · Leavesden · tickets must be booked in advance

The Harry Potter sets get their festive dressing: the Great Hall with Christmas trees and a festive feast, the Gryffindor and Slytherin common rooms in garlands and wreaths, and the Hogwarts castle model under a blanket of filmmaking snow. New this year, the Backlot Stage shows how Christmas sound effects were made with Foley.

No Hornets this weekend: it's the international break. Watford are next up away at Sheffield United on Sat 21 Nov, 3pm (BBC Sport fixtures).

SUNDAY

Watford FC Women v Ipswich Town
Sun 15 Nov · 2pm · WSL 2 · home

Fresh from a 1-0 win away at Leicester City last Sunday, Watford FC Women are at home to Ipswich Town. Fixture details on BBC Sport, tickets via Watford FC.

In The Room Festival, Watford Palace Theatre
Sun 15 Nov · 6.15pm · standard tickets £30.50 and £33

A night of musical theatre where young performers from across the region share the stage with West End professionals.

WHAT'S NEW

Tasty Bean team to run the new Town Hall café. The family business behind The Tasty Bean at Oxhey Activity Park will open a café on the ground floor of the Town Hall, with an outdoor terrace overlooking the new Town Square. It's scheduled for spring 2027, alongside the new Museum of Watford.

Beryl bikes pass two million kilometres. That's almost 50 trips round the Earth since the scheme launched in March 2020. Watford Junction is the busiest bay, and more than four in five journeys this year have been on an e-bike.

Woodside Community Centre on track to reopen in spring 2027, run by Chime Housing. Want a say in what happens there? There's a meeting for a resident stakeholder group on Tue 17 Nov at 6pm at Combewood, Horseshoe Lane.

EAT & DRINK

Three nights at Mad Squirrel Watford, 3 King Street:
Thu 12 Nov: Bingo night, 8pm to 10pm, with prizes
Fri 13 Nov: Open mic with Charles and Flo, 8pm to 10.30pm, all acts and genres welcome
Sat 14 Nov: Ollie Wade plays, 8pm to 10pm

COMING UP

Christmas Lights Switch-On, Pondside
Sat 21 Nov · 4pm to 6pm · The Parade, WD17 1NA

The parade sets off from outside McDonald's on the High Street at 4pm and heads up to Pondside, with live festive entertainment on stage from 4.30pm. At 5pm the Christmas tree is switched on and the brand-new starry night lights come on. Acts include Electric Umbrella, Tiger Jazz, SEC Drum Corps and the Palace Theatre's panto characters. The council says to expect Santa Claus.

Sat 21 Nov: Comedy Hotspot at the Pump House, 8pm, £15, ages 18+, line-up still to be announced
Wed 25 Nov: Watford v Blackburn Rovers at Vicarage Road, 7.45pm, Championship (BBC Sport)
Fri 27 Nov to Sat 28 Nov: Murder Through the Ether, a new murder mystery play from the Pump House Theatre Company, ages 14+
Sun 29 Nov: A Christmas Carol: The Panto opens at Watford Palace Theatre, 3.30pm, and runs to Sun 3 Jan, with Terence Frisch back as the Dame
Sat 5 Dec: Big Skate, the covered ice rink at Pondside, opens at 12noon and runs to Sun 3 Jan. Early bird prices (adult £12, child £8, family of four £38) are available if you book before Mon 23 Nov

DID YOU KNOW?

Before it was the home of Harry Potter, Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, just up the road in WD25, was an aircraft factory. Leavesden Aerodrome opened in 1940 to build planes for the war, including Halifax bombers and the Mosquito. Rolls-Royce bought the site in 1967 and built aircraft and helicopter engines there until the factory closed in 1992. Two years later the James Bond team, unable to shoot GoldenEye at Pinewood, found the empty hangars, and GoldenEye became the first film made there. All eight Harry Potter films followed, and in 2010 Warner Bros. bought the site, becoming the first Hollywood major to set up its own studio outside the US. The studio tells the full story.

From Sat 14 Nov, those old hangars are covered in filmmaking snow.